Christina Cox & Ron Livingston in Defying Gravity

I took the summer off from blogging, but will be back with a huge back catalog of shows that I watched over the summer. But now its time for new shows this year. Not to many have caught my eye yet, but this was passed on to me so I had a peak last week at ABC’s new space drama “Defying Gravity” from producer and writer James D. Parriott (Grey’s Anatomy, Sons of Anarchy, Bionic Woman (1977), The Incredible Hulk (1978) to name a few).

The show follows the space ship Antares and eight astronauts four male, four female in their six year tour around the solar system. Set in the year 2042, Man has been to mars and is now doing a wider tour of the universe. The show is split between the current happenings as the mission is launched, and the training 5 years prior, giving us the history and background of the characters.

I am not blown away by the series though. But the pilot certainly had me hooked. Interesting backstory concerning a previous mission to Mars and the team selection of the current drives the pilot. With such an ensemble cast, a few of the characters seem to have fallen through the cracks, but they may develop more as the show progresses.

The show is a refreshing science fiction insofar as its not aliens or weird stuff (which I love), but is certainly tamer scifi for the ABC view audience, perhaps playing off of that childhood desire to be an astronaut. It certainly will not be Sam Rockwell’s “Moon,” but it may be a network, milk toast version of Space Odyssey 2001. This is not to say the show does not have mature themes, or will not be complex or interesting. The sexual tensions of the crew and love triangles do develop. But fortunately there is more to the story than that. The characters are given back stories and the best back story belongs to the main character Maddux Donner played byRon Livingston (Band of Brothers), who is haunted alongside Malik Yoba‘s Ted Shaw, of having to leave to members on Mars.

Unfortunately, I find the show follows tropes of drama a little too well, doing nothing excitingly new or interesting with them, and I will leave the qualifying statement, yet. We the general cast of characters including the foreign floozy, the denied lover, the geek/super whiz, the separated spouses, the psychologist with a psychological condition (and alcohol problem), the man who killed girlfriend. Ok, so the last one isn’t that cliche, but a tortured past. Its not done poorly, but it doesn’t excel yet. As the series progresses, one rogue element seems to be driving the mission, creating the drama as it were (triggering flash backs, ship failures, genome shifts in biology). Without this element, the show would certainly be left to its own miring of human drama, that could be set in a hospital or an police station or (insert other cliche locale). The fact that its in space certainly has be still watching.

Overall, a pleasant network outing for a new show. It has potential for a network drama. The mysteries increase as you continue to watch and seem to be worth it. I have watched five episodes now and it continues to draw me in. Defying Gravity can be seen on Sundays @ 10/9c.

Here also is the trailer for the show if you haven’t seen it.

Episode Verdict: B

Another solid episode from Dollhouse. It also was one of Dushku’s best performances (barring Spy in a House of Love, the last episode).

Basic plot, wealthy rich horse woman dies. Comes “back to life” via being imprinted on Echo. Her paranoia of being killed for her money, has led her to come to the Dollhouse every month to have herself “backed-up” as it were, in the event she was killed. Back in Echo’s body, she decides to solve her murder.

The general murder mystery is an interesting, perhaps solely because she is investigating her own murder. She gets to see what all of us dream about, to see our funeral, to see how people remember us, to see how many people care. But for her, its a painful ordeal. Seeing people she loved, bitter, angry, and having felt rejected and distanced by her. From her young husband who is truly broken up about her death, though there is speculation otherwise,  to her children, who felt abandoned and unloved by their overbearing mother. Her son even tries to kiss her (remember, different body) which of course repulsed her.By the end she uncovers her killer, but she also is able to reconcile some of her hurt relationships. Touchingly and in an uncheesy way. I think the performance by Dushku was superb: believable and real.

Meanwhile Ballard struggles with the fact that Millie is really November, a Doll. He struggles with how their relationship is fake, but both have a chemistry and seem to love each other. Even leading to a passionate, if not a little rough intimacy. It is unclear whether its true passion or if Ballard is taking out his frustration ever so slightly. Definitely we are seeing Ballard facing some definite crisis of identity, fighting those living these fantasy’s, trying to take down the Dollhouse, all the while having to live a fantasy.

Topher’s character also got some good screen time, creating the ultimate best friend, out of Sierra (Dichen Lachman) playing chess, laser tag, discussing advance science and science fiction. Its both entertaining as well as a little sad. The great wise cracking Topher moments are almost doubled having a perfect friend. Sierra suggesting they play with sleepies, Topher doing a Michael Bay trailer voice over “In a world, where all men are guilty until proven dead, One man, stands…” Adelle, The head of the Dollhouse, allows it because she knows that its not good to be lonely, and she herself had been doing a very similar thing, (previous episode).

The whole episode floated along smoothly, unstilted. Dialogue was natural, emotional, but not cheezy. I also was afraid that the whole “life after death thing” was going to be too complicated for them to explain, but it was done in a manner that was believable and didn’t leave any gaping holes in the mythology like I had thought it would. That said, the episode was a fairly straight forward story. No big government intrigue, or dolls going haywire. I think it was a well told, well performed episode.

I am certainly excited for next weeks episode with Tudryk (Firefly, Knights Tale).

Death By Scratch and Sniff

Death by scratch and sniff. Definitely another interesting death to be investigated by the Pie Hole crew. (Plus an appearance of The Spleen…I mean Paul Reuben’s reprising his role as a nasally displeasing character.)

In the intro of Ned’s childhood that is now a staple of the series, we find that Ned baked pies as a child because the smell reminded him of her, yet another “Aaawwwww” moment. The case for this episode is, as I mentioned, that of death by scratch and sniff. Basic plot: Olfactory pioneer Napoleon LaNez’s assistant Anita Grey is killed by an apparently sabotaged book. LaNez played by Christopher Sieber, (aka Sir Galahad and  The Black Knight in Spamalot) lives in a environmentally sealed environment due to his sensitive nose. The suspects in this case are a popup book maker whose book was knocked from the release chart by LaNez’s book, by the same title as the episode. And Oscar Vibenius played by Paul Reubens (Mystery Men as “The Spleen”, Batman Returns), LaNez’s former partner, but they fell out because Vibenius felt that all smells should be experienced, even the worst ones because it gave one a better appreciation for smell, while LaNez shielded himself from smell. And per usual, I won’t tell you the culprit because, that takes the fun out of watching it.

The episode also shows Olive trying to get the aunts out and swimming once again, but ends up making them more depressed, and they give away all their mermaid gear. But at Chuck’s suggestion, Olive takes chlorine tablets to the aunts house, and the smell brings back memories as well as memories that Aunt Lily’s eye injury wasn’t the real reason they quit. Then a great song from Vivian, and they realize the joy that swimming brought them, and they are back in the water.

I realize this is a rather short and uninteresting run-down of the episode. But overall, I wasn’t wowed by it. It was a neat episode and certainly entertaining, but not nearly as captivating as some of the other ones. Though of course there were fun quotes like “Follow the yellow thick hose.”

Though it may be worthy to note that this episode was nominated for two Emmys:

-Outstanding Hairstyling for a Single-Camera Series for Daniel Curet (department head hairstylist) and Yuko Tokunaga-Koach (key hairstylist)

-Outstanding Makeup for a Single Camera Series (non-prosthetic) for Todd A. McIntosh (department head makeup artist), David De Leon (key makeup artist), and Bradley M. Look (additional makeup artist)

If the non-prosthetic makeup was for that burnt woman up top, I would bow down in amazement to those makeup artists.

Verdict: (B+) A nice episode. Nothing special to note, just some classic crime solving from the Pie Hole Crew.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Amy Acker (Angel, Catch Me if you Can, Dollhouse) on screen, I kind of had the same reaction as the boys in this shot. Another credit to the show for snagging amazing acting talent. But I am getting ahead of myself.

The boys are continuing their road trip and stop over at Lake Manitok, MI to investigate an unsolved drowning. They find that there have been many similar deaths recently. As they investigate they meet the beautiful Andrea, whose husband was drowned earlier in the year, along with her troubled son, Lucas, who witnessed the drowning.

Several other drowning occur, but in strange places, like, say for instance the sink. Meanwhile Dean is working on connecting with the kid, which at first may have been to get close to Andrea.

Dean: Kids are great.

Andrea: There it is. Waterfront Hotel. Like I said, two blocks. Must be hard, with your sense of direction. Never being able to find your way to a decent pick-up line.

But the relationship ends up being crucial to the case because the kid somehow has tapped into the evil spirit and is able to show them some pictures that he drew, than end up helping them. But they are unable to save everyone as evidenced by this photo:

[SPOILER] But in the end, after Andrea was attacked in the bathtub and nearly drowned. Her son Lucas reveals to the Winchester Bro’s a bike that was buried. Come to find out, Andrea’s dad, the Sheriff was in on the murder/manslaughter of a young boy when he was a kid, a spirit that was now seeking its vengeance. Lucas is attacked, and dragged into the lake, but the sheriff sacrifices himself, wading into the water, thus satiating the spirit.

I absolutely love the pop culture references that have been in all the episodes. I haven’t been cataloging them all, but I did enjoy when, in this episode, the boys pretend to be department of Fish and Wildlife and adopt the names agents Ford and Hamil (Star Wars reference).

And of course Andrea saying: “I must be going crazy or something.” was a little humorous, knowing Acker’s character from Angel.

Verdict: (A) Watch it. I loved having Amy Acker on set. A superb acting job from the entire cast really, from the sheriff, to the boy Lucas, to the Winchester bros. All in all, a very well done and executed episode.

]]> http://shouldiwatchit.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/supernatural-103/feed/ 0 shouldiwatchit supernatural-103-acker1 supernatural-103-boat http://shouldiwatchit.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/supernatural-102-wendigo/ http://shouldiwatchit.wordpress.com/2009/04/18/supernatural-102-wendigo/#comments Sat, 18 Apr 2009 15:53:04 +0000 shouldiwatchit http://shouldiwatchit.wordpress.com/?p=131 ]]>

Wendigo (n) : A creature that was once human but was transformed into an immortal evil spirit when it took up the practice of cannibalism. Wendigoes are cursed to wander the land, eternally seeking to fulfil their voracious appetite for human flesh.

Picking up from Episode 1, the boys are on a road trip to the middle of nowhere Colorado, Black Water Ridge to be precise. The episode opens with three campers getting attacked and mauled. An area known for Grizzly Bear attacks, but its not really a bear is it? The boys impersonate Forest Service Rangers this go round, but not very well wearing biker boots, nearly stepping in bear traps, and packing giant bags of M&M’s (which left me craving some). But they figure out that they are being hunted by a Wendigo, though generally not found that far west, or so it would seem.

Also, the Wendigo is impervious to bullets. Only way to kill it is to torch it. Or shoot it with a flare gun. Either works.

Eval: The episode provided a good story, as well as good character development. We are getting to know the boys a bite better. Sam has become deeply impulsive, willing to drop the mission just to find their dad, so he can seek revenge on whatever killed his Girlfriend Jessica. Dean is revealed to be a bit of a skirt chaser, hitting on the sister of the victim. In the end, the writers really have a great formula for the series. Its not completely about the creepy or supernatural, its also about the story.

Also, gotta say, great soundtrack for the show with a lot of great rock and roll from AC/DC, Allman Brothers, and more.

Verdict: (A) A good episode allowing good character development. Developing the mythos more with their enimatic father, the book of supernatural secrets. Also it was nice to be out in the woods instead of some urban suburb. Overall, this is shaping up to be a good show.

With last nights lack of Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, I decided to start a new show, Supernatural. The show is currently in its fourth season. Perfect, a still running show for me to pick up on. The only thing I went in knowing was that it was about two brothers who hunt the supernatural (ghosts, demons, etc.) I was not disappointed at any turn.

The opening sequence blew me away. Its a normal family with a baby and a young boy. The mother gets up to check the baby hearing strange things on the monitor. Then boom, we hear her scream, the father runs up the stairs, sees nothing abnormal, then sees blood dripping next to the baby, he looks to the ceiling and his wife is pinned there, who then bursts into flames.

Cut to modern day. Hip and cool lookng brother Sam, is going to Stanford. With is shag cut and jean jacket, I knew he was a cool dude. He’s got big plans (which I immediately are going to be wrecked), to be a lawyer, he’s got an interview, and a pretty girl. A+ life basically. We find out that he is estranged from his family. Then strolls in big bro Dean and says their dad has been lost on a hunting trip. (obviously hunting supernatural stuff). Same reluctantly decides to go.

Basic plot rundown, small town, men getting killed near a bridge. Classic woman hitchhiker ghost killing people, after a breakdown killing her children and suicide. But no Dad Winchester. He’s somewhere else, fled town. Still the bro’s solve the case and get rid of the lady in white. (I’m not telling you how, because you need to watch it.)

Evaluation: The whole episode just blew me away with the quality of acting, story, and cinematography. I expected to have to maintain some level of suspension of unbelief, but the special effects were out of this world, no pun intended (except until I realized it was a pun of course). The lighting, camera, everything built an amazingly realistic world that I would belive in a heartbeat.

The dialogue was great too. Classic brother banter. I loved when was Sam was going to apologize to Dean, Dean just outright says “No chick-flick moments ok?” Then they insult each other (in a bro sorta way) and continue on.

The coolness factor: They have a buch of badges, FBI, Fed Marshalls, etc. It also created a mythos that I am sure will be expanded.

[SPOILER] I will say that I saw the end of the episode coming from about two minutes into the episode. Of course Sam is going to go back to hunting (whole premise of show). And I really doubted he was gonna take his girl. Just didn’t seem right. So, what is the only logical thing? Have her die, just like his mother. It was blatantly obvious to me from the beginning. In fact I was a little suprised the same thing didn’t happen to Dean’s gf (if he had one that was). But, it wasn’t cheesy and it worked really well. The closing scene of the episode with Sam loading a gun and saying “we’ve got work to do” Just made me want to watch the next episode.

Verdict: (A) I really enjoyed this first episode. It definitely is a show for those people who like the strange and suprenatural, tinged with a little bit of the occult. The quality of production and acting was amazing. And even had my heart beating just a little faster at moments. Plus nothing like a bit of two rogue demon slayers.

Well, the second episode of Parks and Recreation aired. After a slow start, I was hoping for an improvement with this episode. But I was disappointed. I don’t think I had a laugh out loud moment. I may have cracked a smile, perhaps when  were canvassing to a pedophile, or with the statistic “nine out of ten meth users said the same thing.” But overall, the episode was as much as an awkward train wreck as the public forum held at the end of the episode.

Basic overview, Leslie Knoppe (Amy Poehler) decided to push the project forward quickly and decides to hold a public forum. To gain support for her forum, she canvasses the community. Two teams go out and try to tell people about the park, but from binders of a strict and unnatural sounding script. They encounter many people who are against the idea of the park, and these are the people that come to the meeting at the end. Perhaps the best moment, was Leslie filibustering her own meeting giving a fictional and futuristic history of the town, then reading the Phantom Tollbooth.

The craziness of Leslie isn’t balanced by any other strong normal character. Or even any crazy characters for her to thrive with. She seems to be alone, in her comedy, in her quest, and as a person. I wish that we could see more of Tom (Aziz Ansari), but he feels too much like a side character. The same goes for about every other person in the show. I am starting to ask myself, why do I care aside from the “here it comes” jokes that are not only far between but are already getting very predictable?

These mockumentary type shows thrive on the awkward and outrageous. But there has to be a deeper story we care about. As of yet, there are no characters that I can really connect with, no story subplot that was revealed that had me really interested. The pilot showed potential, but this episode just fell flat, perhaps because of the lack of depth to the episode’s story arc. We know the writers can do better. Let’s hope we see an improvement in the next weeks to come.

Verdict: A lackluster episode, that suffered from a one dimensional plot, and lack of character development. I may have cracked a smile, but I never had a chuckle. I still have hope for the series, lets just hope it finds its legs quickly before they pull the plug.

Last night, Fringe ventured into the realm of creature films, following the plot about an escaped supercreature that is killing people. (part viper, bat, Gila monster, and some sort of parasitic wasp, No I won’t show you a picture, you know suspense is created by what is unseen, not what is seen. Sheesh!) Opening with a almost classic creature film plot, a bunch of young college activists break in to free the animals which are being inhumanely used for commercial product testing, but little do they know they are also unleashing a strange beast that leaves them mauled with large puncture wounds and claw marks across their mutilated bodies.

The camera work was classic horror/creature film, with quick zooms in on screaming, terrified faces, fast first person pans back and forth as the creature grunts and moves in the grass. It was a lot of fun to watch. Maybe not the caliber of episodes or themes that we have seen in the other episodes, but certainly a fun watch.

And back again are the gross scenes that make you gag and squirm from the well grossness of it. This week, the winner was larva, layed in the host. First time was an already dead animal rights activist. The larva burst forth, squirming and wriggling out of the chest cavity. Second time was in the still living Charlie, who must be cured, by poisoning according to Walter. When that doesn’t work, they realize they need blood from the mother of the larva, the monster, which ends in a monster stake-out. (And no, it wasn’t a vampire.)

Superbeast Larva = very gross

The episode showed some real character development in the realm of Walter. He is distracted and out of sorts for much of the episode because he had previously researched on how to create hybrid animals. He has a deep sense of moral guilt concerning it all, real zing that he tried to create creatures similar to the one now loose. Even though he failed, he feels compelled to make amends. By the end of the episode he goes off to take care of the beast alone, trying to take responsibility for his past experiments, even if his experiments never successfully created a monster. Perhaps a little melodramatic, but it worked out pretty good. It was a new and good character development for our man Walter.

We also got to see tinges of jealousy from Olivia, when it appears that Peter is beginning to flirt with her sister. Peter has already shown that he cares deeply for Olivia, so maybe he is just trying to make her jealous? At any rate we have heard rumors of some sort of  past connection between Olivia and Peter, but it has yet to be revealed, perhaps even to them. Is it familial? Some past testing or experiments they exposed to?  Well, let certainly hope its not familial if any sort of romantic connection develops!

Verdict: A- Watch. All in all, a fun fringe episode. Not particularily wrought with deep intrigue or a big bad evil plotting to blow up (or mutate) humanity in some super crazy scientific way. But fun none-the-less. Still, I hope we get to see some more of the bio-terrorists, super crazy science stuff again soon, and I bet we will, since word on the street is that Massive Dynamic’s Dr. Bell (Leonard Nimoy) will be appearing in May’s episodes.

NPH plays Barney Stinson, fun loving, skirt chasing, funny man. But the show follows Ted Mosby (Josh Radner) as he recounts years in NYC and how he met his wife (future Ted is telling his children theses stories). The show also stars Alyson Hannigan (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Lilly Aldren,  Jason Segal as Marshall Aldren, and Cobie Smulders as Robin Scherbotsky, the Canadian of the bunch. But bla-bla-bla, you could get this on any wiki right?

The show is a fun and clever sit-com. The first few seasons were great both on their story and the jokes. This fourth season has been entertaining no doubt. Everybody (in the USA) loves a good Canadian Joke, making up a holiday (“Not Father’s Day) and who doesn’t like making fun of people who go Wooo!,( “”Woooo!”") or even grown men dressing as ninjas or wizzards (“Mosbius Designs”), but when it comes down to it, it feels like the show is starting to jump the shark.

Last nights episode showed that. The show used to have a cohesive plot, fun episodes, great jokes. Last nights episode was just a compilation of “pile on the ridiculous.” As Ted starts his own company in the apt. that he shares with Robin, the fact that he already hired an assistant, though entertaining, was not entirely plausible, and the whole assistant running the apt. denying Robin access to the bathroom…funny, but really? And Barney and Marshall trying to find Marshall’s “whatever-guy” looking at the food, toy, fantasty, touching, etc-guy in their office, was just ridiculously over the top, some of which you can get away with, but it just seemed like a bit much, even though I was chucking at it.

[Spoiler] The episode has Barney openly admitting that he loves Robin, well, at least to Marshall. But for Barney, ultimate player, to make that admission, was a large step, and probably preparing the way for something larger in a season finale.

Also, I know that Lilly leaving was because of Alyson’s pregnancy (she gave birth to a daughter on March 24th, 2009). But it was so fast, and a little contrived. But what can you do, you had to get her off the show somehow I guess. It just seems a bit outrages that she just took off for 4 weeks over a bad joke.

In the end I am torn. We watch these shows to laugh and hopefully we watch them for the story value. I felt like last nights story value was cheapened by the “jumping the sharkness” of the antics, without any significant redeeming story value. Did I laugh, sure, but its just not what I have come to expect from HIMYM. Still, this season has pumped out some great episodes, like “The Naked Man.”

Verdict: Not the best episode of the series. I made me laugh at points so I guess its a win. If you haven’t yet, go watch the earlier seasons. They provide better laughs and better story and character development.

1) are/know science nerds
2) are/know sci-fi/comicbook/fantasy/gamer geeks
3) have a sense of humor

Since I fall into category 2, and I would like to think category 3, I fell deeply in love with this show. The show is about two physicists Sheldon  (Jim Parsons) and Leonard (Johnny Galecki) who live across the hall from an attractive girl named Penny (Kaley Cuoco). Leonard is the poor, slightly socially awkward character, while Sheldon is the brianiac and slightly VERY neurotic.  Their two friends Wallowitz (Simon Helberg, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long-Blog) and “Raj” Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) provide a lot of entertainment. Wolowitz is always hitting on women, which comes of as sleazy and socially awkward. Meanwhile Raj is unable to speak while women are around.

The Episode: The Hofstadter Isotope

Leonard (Galecki) on set (photo: LA Times, David Strick)

Last nights episode was as good as any to jump into the series. The opening scene wasn’t the funniest, though it provided some good laughs while setting up a nice premise for the episode. The four men are sitting around eating some sort of Asian takeaway, with Sheldon groaning and moaning until he explains that he is upset (and his sensitive) that they are eating Thai food, because it is out of their normal habits, being “anything can happen Thursday” invented to kick them out of their “rut.” The all talk about going out to a bar to pick up ladies, championed by Wolowitz, who is always looking to get the ladies and states: “I’m a horny engineer, Leonard. I never joke about math or sex.”

But in the end, the gang decides to go to the comic book store, which provides many laugh out loud moments, mostly caused by the fact that Penny asks them to pick up a comic for her 13 year old brother. Which leads to a massive discussion on comic books, the numerous different Spidermans (spectacular, amazing, ultimate, 2099, etc.) and even more nerd references. Penny comes along realizing it would be less time consuming than talking to Sheldon about it. I loved when she entered commenting that the shop was “cute.” causing all the comic store patrons to stare at her. Leonard reassures her that “they are more afraid of you, than you are of them.” Also, Captain Sweatpants provided some great humor about the sterotypes of the comic book nerd. Though also showing more normal guys such as the owner of the store, are a bit mopre down to earth (though not completely as conversations with Sheldon about the successor of Batman, prove.) (Though as a counter point, I played, “how many titles do I recognize in the comic book shop.” I was particularily happy to spot an Astro City title. A very good read.)

Captain Sweatpants

Later in the episode, after Penny goes out with the Comic book shop owner (a huge step for Penny since she herself is not a nerd by any means), the gang decides to go out to the bars (partially becaue Leonard still has feelings for Penny.)

Wolowitz: “Okay! Let me just go inside and slip off my underwear.”
Leonard: “Why?”
Wolowitz: “Well if I get lucky, I certainly don’t want to be caught in my Aquaman briefs.”

If I were to complain about the episode (and there really isn’t much to complain about, it had many many many laugh out loud moments for me, it woud be that the ending was a little flat. Not horribly so, just not completely satifactory. Nevertheless, the episode gets an A from me.

Still wondering if the show is for you with all the nerdy references? Don’t worry, even if you aren’t a nerd and don’t know about the DC Universe’s Infinate Crisis or the Zero Hour, or have no idea what the Deep Space 9/Star Trek: TOS “Trouble With Tribbles”crossover is, or never played the text based computer game Zork (I have, I actually thought about digging it out after watching this episode) you will still find this show hillarious. Like Felicia Day’s The Guild the show takes nerds, without making (too much) fun of them and provides a funny show that is accessible to both nerds, and non-nerds alike.

I was definitely happy when I heard that Big Bang Theory had been renewed for two more seasons.

Verdict: Most definately watch. No matter who you are, popular kid, social reject, business man, or staving artist, if you enjoy a good laugh, this show definately delivers.